For half a century, photojournalist Eli Reed's photography has captured the face of racism and documented human suffering in conflicts around the world. He has photographed deprivation from Beirut to Central America, and filmed the Lost Boys of Sudan, young men Reed described as "living through life-threatening hell." In 1986, his images chronicled the coup against Haitian President "Baby Doc" Duvalier; in 1989, he captured the U.S. military action that led to the downfall of Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega; and in 1992, he documented political upheaval in Kinshasa, Zaire. In the United States, his eyes have been focused on the evils of racism, his photographs exposing truth in ways that words cannot always express. His long career of documentary work culminated in his much-acclaimed photographic record of the aftermath of George Floyd's 2020 murder in Minneapolis and Floyd's funeral in Houston, Texas. Reed was a 1983 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, became a full member of Magnum Photos in 1988, and retired in 2021 after teaching for 17 years as a clinical professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He has received many awards and achievements including most recently, the National Press Photographers Association Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award (2020), Gordon Parks Choice of Weapons Award (2021), and the I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence (2021).
